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Saudi embassador was oil executive Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8891675.htmhttp://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/8891675.htm
Posted on Thu, Jun. 10, 2004
U.S. ambassador has long ties to oil, Bush family
By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Knight Ridder Newspapers
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Before beginning his assignment as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jim Oberwetter and his wife, Anita, underwent the customary training course for foreign diplomats and their spouses.
The teacher was Prudence Bushnell, who was the ambassador to Kenya when terrorists bombed the U.S. Embassy there in 1998. Now, four months into his posting, America's point man in Saudi Arabia is finding Bushnell's safety and security tips particularly instructive.
During his short tenure in the kingdom, terrorists have launched three devastating attacks targeting Westerners. Anita Oberwetter begrudgingly left the country in April when all U.S. dependents were ordered home. The ambassador said he still ventures into the community but never without eight guards provided by the Saudi government.
"I haven't even looked in their briefcases," Oberwetter said of his security contingent. "I don't know what's in there, but I don't think it's paper."
Oberwetter, 59, grew up as the son of a nomadic West Texas oilfield worker and went on to become a top executive of the Hunt Oil Co. in Dallas. Along the way, he became close to two presidents named Bush. Consequently, his resume boasted a pair of blue-ribbon qualifications for dealings with the Saudi royal family: knowledge of oil and telephone access to the Oval Office. He succeeded another Texan in the post, Dallas attorney Robert Jordan.
By most accounts, the freshman diplomat is off to a promising start, but the challenges are immense.
He came into the job when U.S.-Saudi relations are at their most troublesome in years. While both governments are committed to maintaining an alliance that dates back to more than a half-century, the populations of both countries have viewed each other with growing suspicion following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.
Americans haven't forgotten that 15 of the hijackers were Saudi and that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is Saudi-born. Saudis feel widespread contempt toward the U.S.-led occupation of neighboring Iraq and the United States' Middle East policy, which many believe favors Israel.
The most pressing concern is the yearlong wave of terrorism. Attacks in the past two weeks have included the murder Tuesday of an American who was shot nine times in the head by gunmen who followed him home, pushing many of the estimated 30,000 Americans in Saudi Arabia to the edge of panic.
Scores of foreign firms and embassies have ordered dependents home, downscaled their workforces and installed immense security outside residential compounds.
Interviewed at his office in the sandy-brown diplomatic quarter in west Riyadh, Oberwetter said at least some of the terrorist attacks "are clearly al-Qaida-related," carried out by active cells that continue to operate in the desert kingdom despite hundreds of arrests by Saudi security forces.
Oberwetter said he abides by the same security precautions the embassy recommends to Americans in Saudi Arabia, but he tries not to hide inside the embassy compound. He says he visits oil fields, goes shopping and runs errands in the city.
"I've been going out in Riyadh to get my haircut," he said. "It's fun to go out there with eight guys. You know you're going to get a good, safe haircut."
Dealing with the Saudis traditionally is a delicate matter, as one might expect of a relationship in which a peeved Saudi government could disrupt oil supplies and unsettle the U.S. economy. One former envoy to the country said the ambassador must have "four ears and a half a tongue."
By all accounts, Oberwetter is working hard at pressing the Saudis for faster action on issues such as rooting out financial supporters of terrorism. He's also pushing Saudi rulers to implement social and economic reforms that the U.S. government considers essential to foster a more open society and eradicate al-Qaida's extremist underpinnings.
Diplomatic insiders say he's been firm in his dealings with the Saudi leadership, including Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler. One of his goals is to encourage the Saudi government to carry out a vigorous job-creation program to provide work for an increasingly younger labor force. Nearly 70 percent of the population is younger than 30, and unemployment is nudging toward 20 percent.
Oberwetter was tapped for the job in the fall of 2003, in part because of his long ties to the Bush family as well as his grasp of oil-related issues, considered a fundamental prerequisite in dealing with a country that supplies a fourth of the world's oil. His record as a longtime behind-the-scenes player in Texas Republican politics was another plus.
A 1969 journalism graduate of the University of Texas, Oberwetter worked as a Washington press secretary for George H.W. Bush when he represented Houston in Congress. He kept his ties with the Bush family during a 28-year career for Hunt Oil Co. and was Texas chairman of the elder Bush's 1992 presidential re-election campaign.
He also served George W. Bush during his political ascent. After the younger Bush became governor of Texas, he named Oberwetter chairman of the Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
The latest assignment came through a vague phone call from a White House official asking if he planned to be in Washington soon. "We'd like to visit with you," he was told. The next day he was in the Oval Office, where Bush offered him the job. After his wife gave the green light later that afternoon, Oberwetter accepted.
Despite the harrowing circumstances, Oberwetter said he feels "very comfortable" in his emerging relationship with the Saudis.
"Obviously, there are some of them I'm glad I haven't met," he said. "But that is a tiny minority of radicals whose approach to life is not a civilized approach."
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